Remoror Carbasus
by nightmarish angel
Summary: Fred and Hermione never thought they would be occupying each other's thoughts (literally). But with an ancient prophecy, a war, and Sirius' life (he's not dead you know) weighing on their shoulder's, there's not much time to think about anything.
1. What Just Happened?

_Remoror Carbasus _

_Prologue_

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I affiliated with JK Rowling or the many publishers of the Harry Potter books.

_Hermione opened her eyes suddenly to see the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Molly Weasley sat at the table; her plump cheeks rosy with despair and her eyes holding back unshed tears. "Is he alright Dumbledore?" she asked, her voice cracking as she looked over to where Dumbledore sat, examining a figure that was lain on a small cot in one corner. "The explosion just knocked him unconscious Molly. He'll be fine," he replied, his voice sounding more aged than Hermione had ever remembered hearing it._

_Though she had no more than thought about moving closer to where Dumbledore was sitting, she found herself creeping slowly toward the musky corner, a distant voice warning her to stay in the shadows. Hermione heard footsteps pounding—footsteps that should have been coming from where she was; yet she had no control over where she was going. _

_As Hermione came closer to the figure she noticed the dark hair that the person possessed, and then her eyes rested on a single lightening bolt scar on the center of the boy's forehead. She gasped, "Harry!" A gasp, much like her own, but much deeper left what she had thought was her body, alerting the room of her presence. She froze as Remus Lupin's hand reached out towards her and grabbed at what looked like air. In one sweeping movement, his hand was back at his side, an invisibility cloak clutched in his balled hand. Hermione panicked. What was going on? Why did her dream feel so real? And why wouldn't her body respond to her brain's command to pinch her self so she could wake up from this awful nightmare? _

_Mrs. Weasley's face came back into view, this time etched with anger. She glared intently at Hermione, looking close to murder. "Fred Weasley! What do you think you're doing in here?" she roared. Hermione let out a small squeal. Why was she calling her Fred?_

_"Mum, I can explain—" She heard the male voice(now identified as that of Fred Weasley) respond from where she was supposed to be standing. _

_"Get out of here now Fred! I'll deal with you later," Mrs. Weasley interjected, silent anger apparent in her voice. As Fred's body turned to leave the room, Hermione bolted up right in bed._

Hermione's breathing was labored as she regained composure and awareness of her surroundings. She was in her bed, covered in her lilac comforter and the soft classical music that she fell asleep to every night was softly playing in the background. She took a deep breath, reassuring herself that it was just a dream.

She had almost succeeded in convincing herself that her dream was completely fictional when a loud _pop _placed a rather frightened looking Fred Weasley in the middle of her room. His breathing was almost as heavy as hers had been as he spoke. "What the hell just happened?"


	2. Maniacal Behavior

__

Remoror Carbasus

_Maniacal Behavior_

"I…I don't know," Hermione stammered. "I thought it was just an odd dream," she said as she pulled her comforter up to her neck. She suddenly felt exposed in her pink tank top and shorts. Fred wouldn't have noticed what she was wearing anyway, she realized. His face was still pale and he had begun to pace back and forth on her carpeted floor.

"You mean, you've never read a book on something like this?" he asked.

"I haven't read every book in Hogwarts you know," she replied. She couldn't help but feel slightly offended. Sure, she knew a lot, but that didn't mean that she could just answer any question in the world.

"Well, you've certainly put a bigger dent in that library than _I _ever did," he replied, his voice flat. _He does have a point, _Hermione thought logically. She began to wrack her brain for any information that related to their situation. Minutes passed in silence, Hermione sat thinking as Fred continued pacing back and forth on her floor.

"Turn around," she stated abruptly.

Fred stopped in his tracks. "Pardon?"

"Turn around please, I…I need to grab my robe," she replied, her cheeks becoming a shade darker. His mouth changed into the shape of an "o" as he realized what she was talking about, and he quickly turned around. Hermione threw the covers back, grabbed her robe and quickly tied it shut. Telling him that he could turn around, she turned to her bookshelf and began searching. Fred waited patiently for her to finish.

"Found it!" She exclaimed pulling a book, whose spine read _Natural Magic _and brought it over to her bed, bidding Fred to join her. She hastily opened its pages, scanning the contents table and heading straight for page 124. She began to read the pages aloud.

_"__Mental and physical bonds are considered to be one of the oldest types of magic involving humans naturally found on Earth, excluding elementals, Seers and Healers. Modern wizard has known about these bonds since Ancient Egyptian times, but text indicates that they were around even before the Mesopotamian civilization. Bonds are found in both wizards and muggles alike (though muggles can not feel it as strong as wizards). These bonds connect people for their entire life; even after death bonds have been known to keep people from entering the "hereafter" before their "time" has supposedly come. Though no one is sure exactly what causes these bonds, most are thought to be created between two people after a traumatic incident that both participated in, an example would be between siblings if they witness their parents' murders or if two people witness the death of a close friend or are involved in an accident. Others have been reportedly created by as a tool used in the fulfilling certain strong prophecies, such as one about ending a war or the saving of someone's soul. Most bonds are created between people of different genders, such as male-female, and rarely wizard-muggle. Other than this, not much is known about the powerful natural magic that creates these bonds and no concrete evidence has been uncovered to prove the theories that witches and wizards have sought to prove over the years. _

_"In wizards, the most common symptoms of a bond is: the sharing of dreams, the reading of others minds and shared thoughts (which is normally confused as natural Legilimency or telepathy manifesting itself), persona switches (when the personality of the two witch/wizards are switched between bodies), and in the most extreme cases, the forcing of two minds into one body, leaving the other comatose."_

"So you think we're _bonded_?" Fred asked incredulously. Hermione shrugged. Indeed, she _had _thought it was some type of bond between the two, but other than the dream, they showed no signs of sharing such magic. "You must admit 'Mione, that sounds a little out there."

"Well do _you _have any better ideas," she snapped. Fred shook his head and sighed. "All I know is that I could hear _your_ thoughts in _my_ body," he said, placing his head in his hands. She smiled softly, chuckling at the memory of Mrs. Weasley's face.

"You're mum was pretty mad wasn't she?" Fred's face shot up in surprise. "Mum…Merlin I'm dead," she heard him mutter. He looked at her quickly. "I've got to go. She'll be wanting to deal with me now," he said, getting up to apparate. Just as he was about to return to the old mansion, Hermione called out for him to wait. He stared at her, waiting for her to answer him.

"Is…is Harry alright?" she stammered. To say that she was worried would be the understatement of the century. She had been too caught up in the mystery of her dream to think of him when Fred had first apparated into her room.

"There was an attack at the Dursley's just after dark. Harry suffered a nasty blow to the head, but he's supposed to be all right. Dumbledore's got that stupid family of his in Grimmauld Place. They've been wailing constantly since the Order rescued them, the prats," he spat the last part before smiling sadly. "That's all I know at the moment. I'm sure Ron we'll be owling you soon…" he trailed off. "Actually, I think it would be best if we kept this…dream to ourselves."

"But what if something's _wrong," _Hermione asked. "Dumbledore would want to know about this," she stated logically. "_and _he'd probably know what to do."

Fred shrugged. "We'll research it more. I think Dumbledore's got enough on his mind at the moment. Just don't say anything," he said, and before she could reply, he was gone.

She scoffed at where he should have been. The nerve, just coming around and acting like he knew what was best! What if they _were _bonded? What if they didn't do anything and their minds joined and one of their bodies became comatose? She certainly didn't want to share a body with anyone—_especially _Fred Weasley. She reread what she had found on bonds and realized that even if they _were _bonded (which was highly unlikely anyway) there was nothing she could do about it. Bonds were clearly irreversible.

She sighed and leaned back onto her pillow, suddenly too tired to think about anything. Fred was right. Ron would be owling her in the morning and she would soon be on her way to Grimmauld Place. Besides, she thought as she was drifting off to sleep, whatever was going on would certainly be interesting with Fred thrown into the mix, and for some odd reason, the thought of solving this mystery with Fred was more comforting and appealing than it probably should have been.

Hermione awoke the next morning to an incessant tapping on her bedroom window. She smiled as she saw Pig flying fanatically around her window. She opened it wide enough for him to zoom in, and quickly shut it again, jumping up to catch him. Taking the letter from the bird, quickly read through Ron's sloppy letter.

_Hermione,_

_I was wondering if you would like to come over for the summer. I know that you were planning to vacation with your family first, but it is important that you come as soon as possible. I can't say much, but seed your reply back with Pig and…people…will come to pick you up._

_Hope to see you soon,_

_Ron_

Hermione couldn't help but smile at Ron's trials to be vague. She was a little disappointed that he didn't mention Harry in the letter, but realized that it was quite easy for the little owl to be intercepted. She smiled and sent her reply back with Pig after giving him water and an owl treat that she had nicked from Ron before she went home.

She had talked it over with her parents and explained why she wanted to go to stay with her friends, rather than going on that trip to Spain that they had planned to take. Her parents had nodded their understanding—the Wizarding world was in a war after all, and more and more muggles were becoming affected by it. With their permission she had gone up to her room and pack.

Now, she was sitting on the sofa in their den, waiting patiently for word to come about her transportation to Grimmauld Place. She jumped as she heard the infamous _pop _that was distinctly heard when someone apparated into a room. She looked up to see two identical faces smiling down at her.

"Hello Hermione," George greeted, smiling brightly. Fred, she noticed, shared his brother's smile, giving no indication that he had seen her just that morning. She greeted them and introduced them to her parents, who had wandered into the den when they heard the male voice.

"Exactly how are you planning to bring me to Grimmauld Place," she asked suspiciously. "I can't apparate, you know."

"My dear Hermione," Fred spoke, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We're using muggle transportation, of course," he explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Hermione's eyes grew wide. Had the Order members lost their minds? It was an insane idea. Hermione smiled ruefully. _Most things are insane at the moment, _she reminded herself.

I'd like to thank my beta, Chorin, for helping me with the kinks in this chapter and for writing the excerpt on Bonds. The credit for that part all goes to him. Thanks a lot.

I'd alsolike to thank everyone who has reviewed so far. You have no idea how grateful I am to know that you support me. I hope this chapter is as long (or longer) as you hoped it would be.


	3. I Heard You Talk, But Your Lips Never

_Chapter 3: I Heard You Talk, But Your Lips Never Moved_

Hermione felt the car ease to a stop at the first red light, clearly agitated at Fred's incessant changing of the radio stations. "Could you please stop?" she finally asked, deciding that her sanity was more important than his feelings. Fred smiled at her as he leaned back in the seat, the radio left on a random station.

She had only been in the car for fifteen minutes and the twins had already turned each other's hair different colors and tried to slip a canary cream in the snack her mum had packed for her. And she still had another hour and fifteen minutes to go. She shuddered at the thought. How was she going to get through this…situation…with Fred if she couldn't stand to be with him for five minutes at a time?

It was amazing really, how she got herself into these situations. She had always been the one to enforce the rules, but, more often than not, she found herself breaking them—especially with Harry and Ron. And now, she was inhabiting Fred's body in her dreams and traveling to Grimmauld Place by means of muggle transportation because the Wizarding World was no longer safe.

And so the journey continued. She vaguely registered Fred and George's voices as her mind raced with thoughts of the war and the mystery that was Fred Weasley. She was thankful that the car was practically driving itself, for she would have missed the intricate turns it took to get to Grimmauld Place. George had placed a charm on her car before they left her house that would allow them to arrive at their destination without actually knowing how to get there herself (it was safer that way, George had assured her). All she had to do was sit in the driver's seat and pretend to drive (though she would have had no problem bringing them there, she had assured the twins. Her parents had given her the car and taught her how to drive it the summer before).

They arrived at Grimmauld Place exactly one hour and fifteen minutes later; just after the sun set. Fred had proceeded to put out the lights on the street with the putter-outer that Dumbledore had leant them. But instead of seeing the rickety door she expected, she was greeted with and old garage door. Since when did Wizarding families—especially the Blacks—need a garage? As if reading her mind, Fred answered. "Dumbledore added it so you could have a place to park your car," he explained cheerfully as the car pulled itself into the garage and the door creaked closed behind them. She nodded her head in understanding and stepped through a door leading into the house. The commotion she was greeted with was not the warm welcome she was expecting.

"I will **not **stay in this nut house any longer!" Vernon Dursley's voice boomed down the halls of the old mansion. "I demand to be brought back to my home immediately!" his voice reverberated into the foyer as Hermione noted that his face highly resembled that of a tomato.

"And exactly what home would that be?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked coolly as Hermione, Fred and George watched silently from the doorway.

Vernon's face turned from red to violet and large veins in his neck and forehead began to pulse erratically. "All of our possessions were in that house! They're all ashes now! Ashes! We took the boy in, out of the kindness of our hearts," he roared, and Hermione silently scoffed at the statement. "And this is how you repay us! I will not bloody stand for it!"

"You do not have a choice in the matter!" Dumbledore swept into the room, his voice holding the power and finality it took to make Vernon shake where he stood. As Vernon exited, he took the anger and tension with him and a feeling of calmness settled over the room. Dumbledore smiled warmly at Hermione, "Ah, I see that you got here safely, Miss Granger."

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore. Are Harry and Ron upstairs?" she inquired.

"Yes, yes of course. I'm sure the boys will assist you in getting your things upstairs. Now if you'll excuse me, there is an Order meeting that I must attend." He exited the room much like he had entered.

"So we can't be members of the Order because we dropped out of school, but we can be chauffeurs? Nutters I tell you! The lot of them!" George nodded his head in agreement as he lazily levitated her luggage up the stairs. "The rooms are the same as last summer," George informed her. "You're the first door on the right with Ginny and Ron and Harry are across the hall." He idly flicked his wrist and her luggage fell to the floor in front of one of the beds.

* * *

Hermione couldn't help but feel the tension in the air as she sat at the long kitchen table. Most of the Order had dispersed on different tasks and the Weasley's, Dursley's, Harry and Hermione were sitting silently at the table. Dudley was whimpering as he stared at the food on his plate and Petunia was glowering at Mrs. Weasley, who had refused to let her cook. Not that the Weasley's didn't have their own drama to worry about.

Percy had apparated in to the kitchen (causing Dudley to screech in fear of another attack) just before everyone had sat down to dinner and informed the group that: "he had realized his mistakes and that he was willing to forgive and forget as long as everyone else did the same". It was obvious that his pride was still fully intact (as he had not apologized to any member of the family for what he had put them through), but Mrs. Weasley had welcomed him back with open arms and immediately added another plate for him at the table. Needless to say, the other family members weren't as welcoming. Fred and George were mentally plotting their revenge while Ron glared daggers at him across the table and Ginny ate her meal, staying unusually silent.

Hermione had noted her silence early on and had made a mental note to talk to her about it later that night, but she observed that Fred had taken notice of her stillness. As she glanced back down at her plate to take another bite of her food, she heard Fred speak. "She's going to forgive the bloody git," he said in disbelief.

Hermione sighed mentally. _Don't get mad at her for loving her brother. _She said silently. The table was not the place to start such a discussion, and it really wasn't any of her business anyway.

The loud clanging of a fork bouncing from a plate to the floor caused Hermione to look up from her meal. Fred's hand was still hanging in midair between his plate and his mouth. He was staring directly at her, and she immediately felt uncomfortable under his gaze. What was wrong? Then she noticed him swallow the food that had been in his mouth. He had been eating. Silently. So that meant…Hermione's eyes grew the size of saucer's. She had read his mind without even realizing it! And he had heard what she had said! The little conversation that had gone on around them had come to a stop as everyone stared at the two. "I'm…I'm not feeling all that well. May I be excused?" she asked quietly. Mrs. Weasley nodded her head, asking if she needed anything. Hermione shook her head and calmly walked out of the kitchen. As soon as she got to the stairs, she bolted up to her room.

She immediately began searching through her trunk. She pulled a large red book out of the bottom of her trunk and immediately flipped to page 124. _"In wizards, the most common symptoms of a bond are: the sharing of dreams, the reading of others minds and shared thoughts (which is normally confused as natural Legilimency or telepathy manifesting itself), persona switches (when the personality of the two witch/wizards are switched between bodies), and in the most extreme cases, the forcing of two minds into one body, leaving the other comatose."_

She groaned aloud as Fred stepped into the room and lay on her bed. "I heard you talk, but your lips never moved," he informed her. "And I didn't say that I was mad at Ginny out loud."

"I know. I didn't realize it at first, but…" she trailed off, not able to finish the thought. "It's in the book you know. One of the symptoms of bonds is shared thoughts."

"You really think we're…bonded," he restated uneasily. It was odd for either of them to hear it aloud.

Hermione sighed as she reread the passage. It certainly didn't make any sense. The only traumatic thing she had even come close to witnessing was the death of Sirius, but she had been unconscious throughout the ordeal and Fred hadn't even been there. "_Others have been reportedly created by as a tool used in the fulfilling certain strong prophecies, such as one about ending a war…" _A prophecy. The thought was almost laughable. Ending the war was Harry's job. He had the scar (and enough of Voldemort's attention) to prove it. Was there some other war in some other realm that she didn't know about it? Not likely. Fred laughed. "I totally agree," he said, before growing silent.

Hermione groaned. "We're really going to have to get control of…whatever it is that's happening. I really don't feel comfortable knowing that someone can just enter my thoughts whenever they please."

"And I don't feel comfortable entering someone's thoughts without knowing I'm doing it," he agreed. "You know…" he paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "It's not _likely _that we're apart of a prophecy, but I also didn't think it was likely that my idol would be the "murderer" Sirius Black—or that he would have been innocent at all."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "But how do we get proof?" she asked him as she plopped down on the bed beside him.

He rolled onto his side, and, dropping his head right next to her ear, he whispered, "By breaking into the Department of Mysteries of course! You know the way don't you?" Hermione was about to reply when she heard Ginny clear her throat. She looked up to see her leaning casually against the frame of the door, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"You seem to be feeling better Hermione," she said, her voice full of mirth. She turned her attention to her brother. "You seem to be comfortable." Hermione felt her face heat up at Ginny's sly accusations. Fred smiled cheekily as he scooted closer to Hermione, closing the gap between them. "Very," he replied, as he buried his head into the crook of her neck, his body shaking desperately with his attempts to control his laughter. Hermione blushed a deeper crimson, and after what seemed like a lifetime, he finally got up and sauntered to the door. "Bye honey. I hope we can do this again sometime," he said with mock love in his voice, and then, he blew her an overly flirtatious kiss and walked out the door. Hermione wondered if it was possible for all the blood in her body to rush directly to her cheeks (because it certainly felt that way) as she buried her head into a pillow. Ginny slammed the door and pounced on to Hermione's bed.

"I want every single detail about what's going on between you and my brother and I want them all now!"

* * *

A/N: I know that this chapter isn't very long, but it is vital to the story. The chapters should be getting longer as I get into the plot of the story, but for now, please bear with me. Constructive critisism is highly appreciated. Thanks for all of the reviews. They mean a lot to me.

Kaitlyn


	4. 4 The Woes of Ron Weasely

"What are you hiding?" Hermione looked up from her book, startled by Harry's blunt question. His voice was laced with anger at being left in the dark about something else and Hermione felt the butterflies awake in her stomach.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied lamely. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Her mind hadn't been on the book at all, it had actually on the dream she had had the night before. Fred had once again invaded her dreams, but this time—thankfully—there were no major problems for her to witness through his mind. She had been dreaming of the lake that was located behind her home—her favorite part of the land her father had inherited three years ago—when Fred had plopped down beside her. It had startled her, of course, but she soon found herself becoming quite comfortable there with him. The two had talked for what seemed like hours. He had wanted to know everything—from her favorite color to her adventures with Harry—and before she had even began to interrogate him, the sun was spilling into her room and she felt her mind slowly come back to consciousness. At first, she wasn't sure if it was just a dream or if he had felt it too. He had treated her the same way he always did at breakfast, and for a moment, she was sure that it had been a figment of her imagination. But as she made her way back to her room after breakfast, she found a single long-stem fire and ice rose (her favorite flower) on top of her pillow and she knew that he had actually heard every word she had spoken that night.

The last thing she wanted was for Harry to be angry. His mood swings had become worse with Sirius' death and his last one (which had taken place around lunch that day) had put him back into bed. "Stop looking at me like I'm a bloody doll! I'm not going to break!" he bit out angrily. Hermione nodded her head.

"I never thought you were," she said, the ghost of a smile on her face. "It's stupid really…" she trailed off, remembering Ginny's expression. It had taken awhile to get Ginny to even believe her and when she finally did, she had burst out into giggles saying "only youor Harry would have bad enough luck to get stuck in this situation with Fred," Hermione had smiled at her reaction, but soon felt her cheeks heat up as Ginny continued. "You know, I always thought you'd marry Ron, but I wouldn't mind you dating Fred either. As long as you marry into the family _some how._" Hermione laughed softly at the memory before turning her attention back to Harry. "Honestly, it doesn't even make any sense…" She looked at him skeptically. "Do you really want to know?"

"No, I just asked to use up some of the oxygen in this room," Harry replied sarcastically. Hermione allowed herself to chuckle before she began to tell him her story, starting with the very first dream.

Hermione saw Harry smile—really smile—for the first time since Sirius' as she went in to Ginny's reaction, and she felt a burst of pride at being the one to put it there. "I'm glad you find my life so amusing."

His smile shrunk slightly as he spoke. "A lot of things will amuse you if you had to stay in this room all day," he said a slight amount of bitterness in his voice. Hermione opened her mouth to speak but he raised a hand to stop her. "I know, I know. It's my own fault. I really shouldn't have said those things to Moony, but I just lost it." Hermione smiled in sympathy. She still shuddered slightly as she recalled his argument with their old professor. He had woken up angry that morning, his head was still sore and Mrs. Weasley had come to the conclusion that she had let him out of bed much too early and sent him straight back after breakfast. Needless to say, he wasn't very happy when Lupin had come to talk to him about Sirius' death—a subject that was still fresh in everyone's mind as they walked the halls of the old mansion that Sirius had loathed.

No one was sure what had set off the argument (and no one was going to approach either of the men on the subject) but it had ended with Harry passed out on the floor from yelling so much, and Lupin looking down at him with pity in his eyes.

"We're not angry at you Harry. He understands, but you're not the only one who lost him. Lupin lost the last of his best friends, at least you still have one link to your parents." Harry nodded his head, mulling over what she had said. He decided that they had talked about Sirius enough for one day, and the silence was becoming uncomfortable, so he broke it.

"You know, Ron's going to go off his rocker when he hears about this," he stated. Hermione squirmed a little and decided that the sandwiches on the tray Mrs. Weasley had left them for supper were much more appealing than where this conversation was heading. "You _were _planning on telling him right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as she laid a plate of sandwiches in front of him. "I could've done it myself you know," he informed her.

"Mrs. Weasley said that you need to rest. That's the only reason she let me stay up here, and I intend to fulfill my job requirements."

"So you're _not _planning on telling Ron." He smiled as she sat back down on the bed, a little more forcefully than anyone unaffected by his words would have.

"He's going to be angry," she said. "He's going to ask why it's always Fred or somebody else."

"And if you don't tell him, he's going to be ridiculously jealous when he jumps to the conclusion that you fancy his older brother," he reasoned, casually taking a bite out of his sandwich. "He likes you, Hermione. Has since day one." He informed her after he swallowed.

She laughed, but the sound came out hollow. "And he's had since day one to act on his feelings. I can't just wait on him forever Harry. I was hoping that he would come to his senses during fourth year—after the ball—but he never made a move and I gave up hoping he would." Harry nodded in understanding. He couldn't really blame her for giving up on his best friend—after all, he _had _had five years to work up the courage to ask her—and she had certainly had given him enough clues to know that she had returned his feelings. "It really is a lose/lose situation isn't it? Either way he'll be mad at something that I can't control. I didn't ask to suddenly start talking to Fred in my sleep," she said.

"He just wants to make sure you're safe, Hermione." He said, and both just sat on his bed in comfortable silence for a long moment.

"I feel so helpless!" she confided, her voice sounding extremely frustrated. "I can't help you win this war—that was proven at the Department of Mysteries—and I can't even _explain _what's going on between Fred and I."

"Frustrating isn't it?" he asked, knowing exactly how she was feeling—a fact that they both took comfort in.

"Unbelievably," she replied, a small smile playing on her lips.

He was going to say more, but the loud stomping of feet on the stairs made them both turn their attention to the door, which shortly swung open, revealing a very angry Ron and Ginny—who didn't look much happier. "Oh come off it, Ron! You act like you own her!" Ron entered the room and pivoted around to face is little sister.

"He _knew. _He knew exactly how I feel about her and he's—he's going to ask her out on a bloody _date!" _his whole face had become darker than his hair and Ginny's anger was close to his.

"So I'm supposed to just wait around for you to grow up and ask her yourself?" Fred asked coolly from the doorway. "You had your chance little brother, I can't help it if you never felt the need to take it."

Ron turned his attention to Fred, his face—if possible—darkening with anger. "You're breaking the pact!" He yelled. "We _all _said that we would _never _steal another brother's girlfriend!"

"Lucky for me, you're not actually _dating _her," his voice keeping the cool disposition that Hermione had come to admire.

Ron changed tactics, deciding that it would be easier to discourage him. "It's not like she would date _you _any way," he said smugly.

Fred pushed himself off of the door way. "Oh really? Lets just ask her, shall we?" he waltzed over to Hermione (who was still sitting on the edge of Harry's bed) and dropped to one knee. Taking her hands in his, he spoke. "Hermione, would you make me the happiest man alive by joining me for dinner tomorrow night?" he asked in exaggerated (almost mock) seriousness/sincerity. Hermione wanted to roll her eyes at his antics—and usually, she would have—but for some reason, a smile was fighting its way to display itself on her face.

She burst into laughter as Fred poked out his lower lip. "Please?" he said. She nodded her head, still recovering from laughter. She highly doubted that he would be this dramatic with someone he really cared about, and they had discussed a way to get her out of the house for research, so "yes" was the only obvious answer for the situation.

Ron obviously thought different. "Wh—No—You can't…" Ron sputtered, causing Hermione to sober immediately. A wave of guilt washed over her, as she realized she had just said yes to a date with his brother, when he admitted right then that he indeed had feelings for her.

"Ron…" she tried to tell him that it wasn't what he thought. She didn't have any feelings for _Fred. _They would never be more than just friends.

"Just get out," he said, his voice much too quiet. Everyone in the room came to the conclusion that they preferred Ron when he was yelling and screaming. Ginny immediately thought twice about interfering. It was between Ron, Hermione, and Fred after all…. When no one moved, Ron repeated his orders. "I _said,_ get out!" his voice rose in volume, and reluctantly, Hermione, Fred and Ginny made their way to their respective rooms. Did they really have to sneak around? Surely there was an easier way of getting out of the house—she was certainly all for telling the truth.

Hey Ya'll, this is Kaitlyn (nightmarish angel)'s beta Bryce (Chorin). We apoligize for the LOOOOONG time it took for us to update, but we had to do the WHOLE FFA end-of-the-year banquet, then we just had the TAKS test, it's one of those USA state standardized tests. And, as high schoold freshmen, nonth graders, our free time to write totals negative amounts. But we're trying to do our best. Kaitlyn apologizes for how sorry the chapter is. Oh, and the reason why I'm updating this is because Kaitlyn just found out that she has to go to a regional writing competition. Well, enjoy.


	5. A Date with Fred Weasley

Hermione sighed as she watched Ron stomp up the stairs and slam his door. Even now, two weeks after Fred had asked her out, he was still refusing to talk to anyone in the house (excluding Harry of course and Ginny, though she was talking with him whether he liked it or not). She knew he would be angry, but his constant cold shoulder was hurting her feelings and starting to agitate everyone in the house.

Fred tugged on her arm gently. "Ignore him. Come on, we're going to have fun today," he whispered in her ear. She nodded and walked out into the garage, followed closely by Tonks and Charlie. After much arguing, Mrs. Weasley had finally agreed to let the two of them actually _leave _Grimmauld Place to go on their date (the upstairs of the miserable mansion wasn't an ideal place after all).

Hermione stepped into the car and started the engine while Fred slipped into the passenger seat. Hermione started the car and backed out of the garage silently. She had to drive to Diagon Ally this time. The car hadn't been charmed like it had been the last time.

"So, exactly where are we going?" Hermione asked casually, trying to get her mind onto more appealing matters.

"We're flooing to my flat for dinner," Fred replied.

She furrowed her eyebrows quizzically. "But we just ate lunch…" she trailed off. Fred turned in his feat so he could face her more comfortably. "Then I guess we'll be there a while." Hermione giggled and glanced over at him, as he beamed at the laughter emitted from her lips. Her mood brightened considerably and they fell into easy and light conversation.

* * *

"Come on, it's just a ways up," Fred said, pulling Hermione in the direction of the flat the he and George shared. She struggled to keep up. While he wasn't as tall as Ron, he was still taller than her by two or three inches and his large strides (paired with his anxiousness to get home) made his stay three steps in front of him.

They finally stopped in front of a small two-story building. Hermione glanced from Fred, to the building, then back to Fred. He smiled brightly at her wide eyes. "You like the new paint job?" he asked. She opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it again. For the first time in her life, she was speechless. In front of her stood a building splattered with green and orange paint that clashed horribly.

Fred smiled at her reaction. "George said that it should be orange—you know, to attract customers—and I wanted it green. So he painted it orange and I changed it to green and well…it got a little out of hand and kind of…backfired."

"Backfired?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Well, we were trying to change the colors back to how we wanted it and we ended up only coloring pieces instead of the whole thing. It certainly catches the eye does it not?"

Hermione nodded and followed Fred inside the shop. The first floor was filled with different items placed throughout the room on different display tables, a small counter with trays full of canary creams and other sweet treats and a small currency register at the corner. "We're almost ready to open the shop," he informed her proudly. "We've been trying to stock up before we open."

"It looks wonderful," she told him. His smile grew brighter and he tugged her hand, leading her to a door behind the counter. The door led to a staircase, which led to another door, which led to a small apartment above the store. After a quick tour from Fred, Hermione learned that there were two bedrooms (one for each of the twins), a small kitchen and an even smaller bathroom, all surrounding one fair-sized den furnished with mismatched chairs and a sofa. But what _really _surprised Hermione were the stacks upon stacks of books placed around the room. "It's for the research," Fred informed her. Hermione stared at the books hungrily. "Well, then. I guess we should get to work," she said, walking over to the old sofa and sitting down, a large stack of books in hand. Fred followed her lead and cracked open the book closest to him.

* * *

Fred groaned in frustration as he closed _another _book. He had surely been through at least a hundred. "Let's take a break." He said, jumping up from the raggedy chair he had been sitting in for the past two hours.

Hermione looked up from the book she had been reading. "But we haven't found anything yet," she replied.

"Exactly," Fred retorted. "So, let's go get ice cream or something and take a break… Please," he added for affect. She nodded and allowed him to pull her off the couch. They talked casually as they walked down to a small ice cream parlor located a few blocks away from the shop.

The streets of Hogsmeade were filled with tension as witches and wizards walked down the street quickly. Voldemort's return had thrown the Wizarding world into a state of frenzy. The town's citizen's all eyed each other wearily as they skittered around, intent on gathering all of their necessities before hurrying back to their homes. Children stared out of the windows longingly, unable to go outside in fear of another attack. It was odd, seeing the town on such high alert, but Hermione knew that the town's inhabitants had every right to be apprehensive.

Hogsmeade was too close to Hogwarts—too close to Dumbledore and Harry and everything else that Voldemort despised. It was logical that the Death Eaters would want to gain control of the village.

"It's horrible isn't it," Fred asked as he watched Hermione absorb the world around them.

"What?" she asked, his voice bringing her back from her thoughts.

"There's no laughter anymore," he stated glumly. She nodded her head agreeing. It hardly felt the same. She absently wondered how she hadn't noticed it before.

They arrived in the small ice cream shop and quickly ordered their treats before sitting down at one of the many vacant tables. "We've been through over half the books in your flat and we still haven't found anything remotely related to this bond we have," Hermione stated, slightly frustrated with their lack of information. "It would be a lot easier if we actually knew what we're looking for."

Fred nodded in agreement. "This whole day has certainly been a waste. I'll have to get you back to headquarters soon. I thought we could grab a bite to eat at the Three Broomsticks before we floo back to Diagon Alley."

"Shouldn't we have eaten dinner _before _dessert?"

"Honestly 'Mione! Where's the fun in that?" he asked increduosly. Hermione smiled at his reasoning and took another bite of her ice cream.

* * *

"I had a fun time tonight," Hermione told Fred as he walked her to her bedroom door that night. Dinner had been fun, and conversation was not hard to find between the two. They had taken a short walk in a small park near the pub and finally headed back to the Leaky Cauldron, deciding that there wasn't enough time to restart their search for information.

Fred smiled widely. "Me too," he replied, then leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Well, except for the hours we spent with our noses in books. I would hav preferred to use that time for snogging."

He snickered as her cheeks turned hot pink. "I'm just kidding around, 'Mione," he said before hugging her tightly. "We should really do it again sometime," he informed her, taking a step back and heading for the stairs. As his foot hit the first step her turned one around one last time. He blew her an exaggerated kiss. "Good bye my lovely goddess—until we meet again!" Hermione's face turned a shade darker.

"Goddess, now is it," Ron bit out. Hermione turned to the door across hall, where Ron had obviously been eavesdropping. "That's just rich."

"Ron—" she tried, but he cut her off.

" I'd rather not hear your excuses, Hermione. Betrayal is betrayal no matter which way you slice it."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. What was he on about? She didn't betray anyone. It wasn't like she and Ron had been dating—she wasn't cheating on him with his older brother….she was just simply spending some time with him. She had nothing to be ashamed of. But before she could tell him any of this, he had slammed the door. Hermione sighed and entered her room. If Ron was going to be angry, that was his problem. She wasn't going to dwell on him any longer, she concluded as she changed into her pajamas. She had more important things to focus her energy on.

* * *

Author's note: Okay, I only wrote this chapter so I didn't violate my terms of service. Since the 6th book has come out, this story is obviously, alternate universe. Since this has been coming along so slowly, and it will be hard for me to continue in the fifth book's universe, I've decided to rework the plot slightly to make it go with the events in the sixth book. The plot won't change drastically, they will still be on the mission to find Sirius and it will focus mainly on Hermione and Fred, but it will take place the summer after sixth year/beginning of seventh year.

I want to thank all that have reviewed and encouraged me to continue the story. I'm sorry for the delay, and poor quality that this chapter possesses and I hope you will all come back and read the newer version. It will be much better. I plan on getting the first few chapters completely done before I start posting, so you won't have to wait as long in between chapters.

Thank you for your support and patience,

Kaitlyn


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